He said he’d been encouraged to stay closeted for the sake of his career.

“I’m an actor. The whole world, the industry, is like, ‘Here’s your big break, you’re on The Walking Dead, you can’t come out, you can’t be in the press, because everything you work so hard for is going to be gone,'” he said.

“‘There’s no gay or bi leading men, no action heroes, your career’s going to be over.’ I don’t care, because I know what’s right. I’m standing with you guys.”